Increasingly more vinyl/LP versions of albums are being released in both brand new and reissue versions. While some of these new release vinyl titles are being released on the same dates as other formats (CD, MP3) of the same title, most are typically released at a later date that can be anywhere from a week later to two or more months later. Upcoming releases that can be pre-ordered now from Amoeba, as outlined in the YouTube video above, include Travis Scott's Astroworld 2LP vinyl version that goes on sale Nov 9th (with Astroworld CD version going on sale Oct 12th). Post Malone'sbeerbongs & bentleys 2LP Clear Vinyl (Republic) will be available October 26th pre-order now while the beerbongs & bentleys CD release from several months ago is still avail. The late Mac Miller's summer released album will be avail on vinyl as a double album set; Swimming 2LP (Warner) will be available on November 2nd pre-order now.

Hot on the heels of last Friday's much-discussed digital release of Dwayne Michael Carter Jr's way overdue fifth/final installment of the New Orleans rapper's long running series, this week comes the physical version ofLil Wayne's Tha Carter V (Cash Money). His twelfth studio album, Tha Carter V finally got released following years of disappointing delays and scheduling setbacks of the sequel to 2011's Tha Carter IV that's been reportedly completed and ready for release since 2014. Then finally last week, deliberately scheduled for release on the rapper's 36th birthday of September 27, 2018, Tha Carter V saw the light of day. With both older original V tracks alongside some brand new very recently recorded album tracks, Tha Carter V's release resulted in a social media buzz and sales that led to the album been registered as the #1 Billboard 200 album this week. Reviews and social media posts about Tha Carter V focused on such things as the strengths of the overdue release notably such tracks as "Mona Lisa (feat. Kendrick Lamar)," "Open Letter," "Let It Fly (feat. Travis Scott)," "Famous," and "Can’t Be Broken." There were also the inevitable comparisons to such superior installments as Tha Carter III, and recapping of Wayne's extended legal battles with Birdman and Cash Money that contributed to the album's delays.

Damn! Kendrick Lamar has done it again with his amazing new album DAMN. (Aftermath) that arrived into Amoeba this past Friday (April 14th) two days before the acclaimed Compton rapper's Coachellaperformance yesterday that included songs from the new album that features the previously released single "HUMBLE." (see the Dave Meyers & the little homies directed music video below). With refreshingly unpretentious cover art, that looks like it was slapped together in a couple minutes, and clocking in at 55 minutes, DAMN. is the artist's fourth album and the anticipated follow up to 2015's critically and commercially acclaimed To Pimp A Butterfly (also avail on LP/vinyl).

After a seven year span with no new Mr. Lifsolo album, 2016 marked the triumphant return of the revered Boston emcee, who plays the Elbo Room in San Francisco July 7th, with the powerful albumDon’t Look Down. The new ten track release's many guests include Del The Funky Homosapien and the group the artist born Jeffrey Haynes is a longtime member of, The Perceptionists. Released by Mello Music Groupin CD, cassette, and vinyl formats, Don't Look Down finds the former Def Jux artist in top form and full of creative energy. As he says himself, he is more like a hungry young artist starting out than one who's been in the hip-hop game since the mid nineties. In short he is far from jaded. "I feel like I just started" not "the older guy" but "I feel brand new," he told me by phone recently. "For me, my career begins now," he stated. But that is not to say that he has been idle for the past seven years. Between Don’t Look Down and his previous album, 2009'sI Heard It Before, Mr. Lif has been busy, among other things, working on his home studio and performing and recording with Thievery Corporation. And a year ago he worked on the collaborative project Terra Bella with thePolish Ambassador and Ayla Nereo.

Legendary Boston emcee talent Mr. Lif, who came to fame last decade via Def Jux with his sharp politically tinged lyrical assault and whom it seems we have not heard from last decade either solo or with his group The Perceptionists (with Afrobatik and DJ Fakts One), has just signed a multi-album deal with Mello Music Group. The announcement came yesterday from the prestigious, eight year old, Arizona based label whose roster of artists released includes Oddisee, L'Orange, Open Mike Eagle, and Apollo Brown whose very recent album Grandeur is the latest release from the label, who said that the deal will include several albums over the upcoming two years 2016 and 2017.

Meanwhile the artist himself, in reaction to how the average hip-hop fan assumed that he had hung up the mic for good since he had not released anything since 2009's I heard It Today, also made a statement to insist that this should not be called a comeback by the post-millennium underground hip-hop star. "I’ve been very active musically for years but I haven’t been putting records out," the Massachusetts artist born Jeffrey Haynes insisted, adding that, "I’ve been touring the world with Thievery Corporation and otherwise living in the studio, constantly making songs.” Fans, who were introduced to the artist via such now indie hip-hop classics as his 2002 EP on Def Jux I Phantom, can look forward to his first in the Mello Music Group album series in early 2016. In the meantime the label has announced that it will be reissuing the (long out of print) 14 track, double LP I Phantom on November 27th. That underground classic from El-P's now defunct Defintiive Jux features an impressive array of artists (production and mic) joining the Boston emcee throughout including El-P, Edan, Insight, DJ Fakts One, Aesop Rock, Jean Grae, and Akrobatik. You can find Mr. Lif's previous releases on the Amoeba website. Below is the video for the track "The Sun" off 2009's and another with Thievery Corportion from 2011.